Pacific Tsunami Kills at Least 19 in Samoa Region

[Breaking News Breaking News]

By Gavin Evans and Tracy Withers

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A tsunami in the Pacific Ocean caused by a magnitude-8 earthquake left at least 19 people dead and more than 50 injured in Samoa and American Samoa.

At least 14 people were killed in American Samoa and another five are feared dead in neighboring Samoa, Agence France-Presse reported, citing local radio. At least two people died after the ground floor of the Federal Building in Pago Pago, American Samoa, was flooded, Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, told Radio New Zealand.

A 5-foot (1.5-meter) tsunami was reported at Pago Pago, on the northern side of American Samoa, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Homes in villages on the southern coast of the Samoan island of Upolu were washed away and a four-year-old child is missing after a boat was swamped, according to Radio New Zealand.

The quake was the biggest since a magnitude 8.1 tremor hit east of the Kuril Islands in Russia in January 2007. The warning center extended a tsunami advisory to the west coast of the U.S. from the Californian-Mexican border to the Oregon- Washington border. An alert issued for the South Pacific was later canceled.

“We also received an early report this morning that the entire Manono village on Manono Island has totally gone underwater,” Radio Polynesia journalists Jonah Tui Le Tufuga told Radio New Zealand. “Luckily most of the residents made it up to higher ground before the actual tsunami hit.”

The tsunami was triggered by a magnitude-8.0 earthquake that struck shortly before 7 a.m. local time on Sept. 29 about 122 miles (196 kilometers) southwest of Apia, the capital of the island of Samoa. Samoa is close to the International Date Line and 7 a.m. on Sept. 29 is 7 a.m. on Sept. 30 in Wellington, New Zealand.

Tsunami Alerts

The quake struck at a depth of about 22 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tsunami warnings were issued for Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, the Cook Islands and 16 other nations.

People in coastal villages were evacuated to higher ground after the quake.

Tsunami drills earlier in the year may have helped reduce the death toll, Tufuga said. Cars and parts of houses are floating in the sea, he said.

“Our house has already been taken by the tsunami,” Theresa Falele Dussey told Radio New Zealand from hills above Apia, where people took shelter. “Some of the houses and cars next to our village have already been taken.”

Air Services

Samoa’s international airport will probably open later today after an inspection is completed, Air New Zealand Ltd. said. The company upgraded the aircraft on its scheduled service later today to carry any extra people and aid supplies New Zealand’s government wants to send, operations manager David Morgan said in an e-mailed statement.

“This is an evolving situation and government and aid agencies may require the ability to move people or supplies at short notice,” he said.

New Zealand civil defense officials reduced its tsunami warning after a wave estimated at 0.4 meters struck along the eastern coast of the nation’s North Island.

Residents of Samoa, shocked by the strength of the jolt, heeded warnings of local police and moved inland, Radio New Zealand’s Samoa correspondent, Tipi Autagavaia, said on a broadcast.

“My kids were preparing to go to school and were all crying and screaming,” he said in the broadcast. “It was a big, big shock to most people, because it is the first time they have experienced such a very strong earthquake.”

The magnitude of the quake was revised higher from an initial reading of 7.9, the USGS said. The quake was followed by two 5.6 temblors, one in the Samoa Islands region and one near the Cook Islands, the USGS said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gavin Evans in Wellington at [email protected]: Tracy Withers in Wellington at [email protected]

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[Astrojewels]

This is big, and not just the damage, the energy yesterday was massive, the triggering and intensity is not like I have felt for a long time, and then follows an earthquake in Indonesia, investigation needs to be done in and around this whole area and I am curious to whether any whales have beached in the last week or so down south from this location.

[Mercy Now]

I was curious about any beachings as well AJ. I received an e-mail from someone who believes this was a ritual event based on the date of 9-29(11) -2009(11) . However  I don't think either earthquake occured on the 29th.??

[Astrojewels]

It could be ritual, and the exact date and time would need to be determined. The only pattern I have found MN is in may 55 whales beached and then in June 44 beached whales in Cape Town, then mid September 40 whales beached in Argentina, and although these locations are not exactly in the area of the tsunami and earth quake, I think the point is all these beaching are in southern locations, therefore it tells us that something is going on down south.. I could not find anything closer to the actual location.

[Mercy Now]

So you did find whale beachings.  I think you're right about the southern areas being indicative .  

[Astrojewels]

They do a great deal of work down south MN, and I find it to be no coincidence that all of these beached whales are on the tips of Africa and south America, and also the numbers like 44 and 55, all associated to twinning, I think it all has to do with the date of 09.09.09. Because I remember that day felt a little strange and the days that followed somehow felt different.